


cheap shot

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Arguing, F/M, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 15:58:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13684968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: Written for #cousyvalentine prompt: angry kiss.





	cheap shot

She stirs awake with a nasty headache and it all comes into focus again.

Her. Him.

Inside of the pod, and this feels familiar in very unpleasant ways.

"So are you here to ICE me again or are we about to have a real conversation?" she groans out.

"About?"

He's standing far enough away to keep some distance between them. Smart man.

Just like all that talk back in the Lighthouse was meant to be a distraction. She knew the exact moment in his eyes when he turned on her, she just didn't think he'd take such a cheap shot.

"About what you did back there," she says, not even trying to hide her anger.

His glance around the pod with his eyes lighting on the windows gives her the satisfaction that he's uncomfortable with their conversation being overheard.

Good. He should be embarrassed.

"I could've given you an order, and you would've still tried to stay. We both know I'm not in charge here."

That, she wasn't expecting. "That was a shitty move to pull on a fellow agent," she mutters instead. How does he do that?

"You've seen my playbook," he tells her as his eyes narrow. "I'm capable of far more devious things than ICING someone that I-"

"Need to lead?" she finishes for him, then shrugs. "Or did you think I didn't hear you all talking out there about whatever is going on with you?"

He freezes and starts to open his mouth, then doesn't.

"When were you going to let me in on that secret, Phil?"

"It wasn't a secret, I didn't know how much time I had," he starts to explain. "After the diner. I was planning on-"

"Oh, so being zapped into space where we could all die," she says, standing up. "Where I might've been sold off to never see you again? That's your excuse?"

"It's not an excuse, I was scared," he tells her, his voice raised and his body language all bristling. Everything is sharp and it feels somehow dangerous now.

It's confusing. Not that she hasn't seen this from him before, but usually it's when something terrible has happened and it's because someone else did something awful, not them.

Right now they're just...fighting.

"I do need you to lead, but that's not why I brought you back, Daisy. Dammit."

He's taking deeper breaths now, trying to calm himself and he must be concerned about her expression, because she can tell he's at war with something.

"I was scared of losing you," he continues to confess. "The idea terrifies me, and I find it hard to believe you haven't noticed that by now."

She has noticed, actually. It really freaks her out, but they've never talked about it.

"Even if it risks millions of lives? The lives of everyone, present and future?"

"Yes!" he says, his emotions flaring again, mouth turned down and stepping into her space. "You want to hate me, go ahead. I'll live with that."

She narrows her eyes just thinking about the possibility of hating Coulson, selfishly. Wondering if she even could.

She can't. He means so much to her, she hates it right now. He would've been safe from her if she had stayed behind. They all would have. But this, this dying thing, and she couldn't keep him safe after all-

"You would've done the same thing," he adds, raising his finger between them, as her eyebrows go up, and she blinks back tears.

"I mean, we're not talking about me-"

He looks at her like he might laugh in her face, which stops her, actually is far worse than the other thing right now.

"You would," he says quietly. "Because you have before. You left, because you didn't want-"

"Oh, so now you want to talk about that?!"

"If you want to run, then run," he shrugs at her. "But I will not choose a world without you in it. And yes, I've already been told that's dangerous. Apparently."

"So you chose for me, so you wouldn't have to chose, because the only choice was between me and saving the world?"

"Don't get it twisted," he throws back at her, then catches himself, pauses. "Wait. Yes. That is what I meant."

She's sort of surprised at the way it hits her, and she takes a deep breath and looks away, towards the windows.

People aren't used to them arguing, it's probably really weird and tense with the team right now.

"And I'm the one in charge here?" she reminds him, finding his eyes again, sees the confused expression wash over his features.

"Mostly," he says quietly, trying not to trip over words. "Yes."

"Then, number one, you're not going to die," she says to him, pulling him towards her by his jacket, as he blinks at her stern expression. "And second."

She grabs him by the lapels of his dirty jacket and hauls him towards her, landing a solid kiss on his mouth, first teeth on lips and then softer when he opens his mouth to her.

His eyes are wide and he looks a bit dazed, staring at her mouth when she releases him like he's trying to convince himself she just kissed him.

"Third?" he asks in a tiny voice, with way too much hope in his eyes.

As she takes a step back, it almost pains her.

He yells "Ouch!" as her open hand slaps the right side of his face.

"Don't ever ICE me again," she tells him. "Got it?"

"Copy that," he says, sounding a bit whiny, and a little something else. Maybe she'll have time to unravel all of this later. It feels like it could get complicated, for both of them.

"I need out of this box," she tells him. "We have a lot of work to do."

"Talk about a cheap shot," he says, standing behind her, pressing the buttons over her shoulder to open the container doors for them.

She turns back to look at him, the pink tinge still there on his cheek, and she tries not to smile.

"You're right. I would've done the same thing," she admits.

His eyes soften and he holds her gaze until they hear someone else moving into the hangar bay.

Then they both look away and step out.


End file.
